Musical tables Poems

"I loved the suddenness of small poems," Collins writes, musing on his long fascination with this form which, unlike haiku, has no rules except the required brevity, preferably of the breathtaking kind. A former U.S. poet laureate whose collections, 12 in number, attain best-seller status, Collins excels in concision, bringing distilled levity, absurdity, tenderness, imagination, longing, ruefulness, and metaphysics to more than 125 short lyrics. Nature, love, curious juxtapositions, observations, questions, riffs, puns, and marveling are all at play in these funny, clever, poignant poems that range in setting and focus while sharing mischief and delight, irony and loss, contemplation and wisdom. Here, an entire lifetime of feelings, dreams, anguish, and improvisation is compressed into a half-dozen lines or less. The table of contents is the longest composition. Though quickly read, Collins' small but fully loaded poems ask to be reread; there's always more to discern. Here's the smallest of these small but potent poems (the titles are always crucial), "The Sociologist:" "I wandered lonely as a crowd." A "small" review would say: Not to be missed.

Amiable and gregarious, much-loved former U.S. Poet Laureate Collins takes a new tact in his latest collection, writing 125 short poems of a few lines each as he explores nature, poetry, mortality, absurdity, and love.

Musical Tables No one knew what to do when the music stopped, plus, the big tables were always in the way. But soon it became the new game in spite of its pointlessness, or was that the reason for its popular appeal? Highway Hitchhiking alone, I notice an ant walking in the opposite direction. Aa At school, always seen together, capital and small, parent and child holding hands, about to cross the street in Alphabet City. The Naked Eye There was no eye lid to cover the naked eye so she covered herself with some scenery, a meadow she liked to look at when the other eye wasn't looking. Argument from Design Six petals on each iris, every other one with a small yellow streak, which resembles a tiny vase, holding a few flowers of its own. New Calendar The poem of next year-- every week a line, every month a stanza, and a tiny sun rising and setting in every numbered square. Excerpted from Musical Tables: Poems by Billy Collins All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.